A Car Bomb in New Delhi Kills 8 and Wounds 36

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A car bomb exploded in central New Delhi today in what was apparently an attempt to kill a leading politician who was crippled in a similar attack last year. He escaped with shrapnel wounds to the chest, but at least 8 people were killed and 36 wounded.

The blast occurred at midday as Maninder Singh Bitta, 35, president of the governing Congress Party's youth wing, left his office in a car. His two bodyguards were among the dead, the police said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but the police said they suspect Sikh terrorists.

Mr. Bitta, a Sikh from Punjab, has been the target of several attacks by rebels from the northern state. He lost a leg in a bombing that killed 13 people in the Punjab holy city of Amritsar on July 7, 1992.

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The death toll would probably have been much higher if it had not been raining heavily or if today had been a regular work day.

The bombing was the first major act of terrorism in the capital since December 1991, when 2 people were killed and 40 wounded in an explosion at the city's best-known flea market. -------------------- 7 DIE IN SOUTH INDIA CLASH

HYDERABAD, India, Sept. 11 (Reuters) -- At least six Maoist extremists and a paramilitary policeman were killed in a clash in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh that lasted 24 hours, the police said today.

They said dozens of heavily armed policemen surrounded the village of Padkal in the northern part of the state Thursday night after the authorities received a tip that a band of the People's War Group, known as Naxalites after the town where the movement was founded, was hiding there.

The Maoists, most of them apparently holed up in a two-story building, opened fire, the police said. They said the 4,000 inhabitants of the village cowered in their houses for the next 24 hours as the two sides battled with automatic assault rifles and grenades.

The police blasted their way into the building late Friday and recovered six bodies. But other members of the band apparently slipped away, and the police began a search for them.

A version of this article appears in print on September 12, 1993, on Page 1001006 of the National edition with the headline: A Car Bomb in New Delhi Kills 8 and Wounds 36. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe